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Athletes use the summer to improve their skills

Ah, summer.
It’s a time to break away from the fast pace of the school-year sports and let kids be kids.
While school is out, the young athletes aren’t taking a break. In fact, they may be working harder at their athletic skills during the summer than they do during the school year.
Go to any area community during a summer evening and you’ll find youth sports being played, whether it’s baseball, softball, soccer or another of the many possibilities.
If you want to see athletes improving themselves, making an early stop at any local high school weight room. On most weekdays, you are likely to see 100 or more high school athletes cycle through their respective weight rooms and training facilities and the shifts start early. Young athletes concentrate so much on their given sports during the school year that the time to make advancements in physical strength and coordination takes a back seat. During the summer, it becomes the top priority and the amount of effort the kids put forth is incredible.
Maybe it’s because of the awful weather this spring, but high school athletes seem highly motivated to get their work done this summer. None of the athletes can be blamed if they feel they got cheated this spring. In nearly 30 years of covering high school sports, I can’t recall a more disjointed season.
The gap in experience between the veteran and the young high school athletes was clearly evident during the spring. Most of the veteran athletes had been through the pre-season routine before. They knew how to improvise well enough so they still got their pre-season work in and were able to perform without a dropoff from their previous seasons.
It was the younger athletes who suffered the most from the shortened spring season. The coaches did their best to teach them, but being stuck indoors for practices for nearly every sport had its costs. Hopefully, the younger athletes are seizing the opportunity this summer to catch up on their skills. Activities like Legion baseball and leagues in the other sports are critical to offer the young athletes the chance to improve this summer.